privet drive summer farewell
by deaths demise
Summary: Au and pre-hogwarts, the other members of privet drive decide to do something about the dursleys and their treatment of harry. child abuse. neglect.
1. Chapter 1

hi this is a story about the other residents of privet drive noticing the dursleys treatment of harry and doing something about it, it is pre-hogwarts and complete AU. hope you like it and please READ AND REVIEW!

Privet Drive Summer Farewell

Summer sun once again shone down on the immaculately kept houses and lawns of Privet Drive, Surrey. The sun particularly bright and strong over Number Four, home of the Dursleys, Vernon, Petunia and their son Dudley.

To the average passer-by their home could be considered normal, if perhaps overly clean with a rather large obsession to their son, with pictures of him at various ages in his young life covering all of the worktops and walls of the house, especially the wall leading upstairs. They could be seen as doting loving parents of a single child which is how they acted, giving their son all that he desired in the way of toys, games, clothes and so forth.

To the average passer-by they could be seen as a 'normal' average suburban family. They had a nice house, a well-managed garden, a good car a gift from Vernon's work. Petunia was a stay at home house-wife and mother, she was a part of the neighbourhood car-pool, she managed the house and picked up the groceries and every morning she saw her husband off to work and kissed him on the cheek and waved lovingly from the doorstep of their two-story four bedroom home. Vernon himself worked and bought a decent paycheck home each week from Grunnings Drill Company had a company car as well as a benefits and retirement package with a good number of holidays a year. Their son was fussed over, doted on and spoilt as the single son that he was, he had all the latest gadgets put and loads of new toys a week as well as anything else he wanted.

To the average passer-by they were a loving caring family of three living in a nice suburban neighbourhood.

However the people who live on the street of Privet Drive with them could tell an entirely different story about the Dursleys and knew all to well that they were not as kind as they appeared to be. In fact those who shared the street with tem knew all too well how horrid and cruel they really were and their main source of proof to this was the fourth member of the Dursley household, Petunia's nephew Harry Potter, orphaned since he was one he had lived with his only relatives ever since.

But if you looked inside the Dursley home you would see no sign whatsoever to their being a fourth member to the house, no pictures littering the walls, no clothes, no food for four, no place setting at the dinner table, no shoes for another boy at the front door or coat hanging up beside their sons, no fourth toothbrush in the bathroom, no nothing to indicate a fourth member. Indeed in the house their were four bedrooms, one was done up as a nice guest room for when Vernon's sister Marge came to say, the other was the master bedroom and the second largest room belonged to Dudley. The last bedroom was no bedroom but rather a storage room for all of Dudley's old and broken toys.

To any who saw their home there was no Harry Potter there was no fourth member permanently living in the house but to those of Privet Drive there was indeed such a boy who lived there, though they rarely did see him and when they did they did not speak to him, nor did the Dursley speak of him or even act if he existed even though he lived with them.

But the fact remained which none on the street could ignore, Harry Potter did indeed exist and live with the Dursleys and the Dursleys in turn were obviously abusing the boy.

For the people who lived at Number Three and Number Five either side of the Dursleys at Number Four could look over at Number Four in the high noon summer sun, when the sun was at its strongest and their children would be inside out of it could see a small child with unruly black hair in the back lawn weeding diligently. This childs neck would be badly exposed and burnt by the end of the day, as would his arms, from lack of sunscreen. Not that that mattered for the next day he would be out there again in the high sun weeding or cutting the grass, but in some way he would be there tending to the garden and if he were lucky he would get a small drink and not be yelled at for bringing dirt from the garden into the kitchen.

Those who live across from Number Four if they awoke early enough they would see this small dark haired figure tending to the front lawn in the pre-dawn light, they supposed he was made to get up early to tend to the front lawn so that none of them would see him doing it during proper daylight hours.

Most if not all of them were disgusted by this labour and treatment of the small boy, who in summer always looked red from the sun before going quite tanned which at least made him look less small than he was.

Those who lived at the end of the street could look out their windows on School days at just before four and see a black haired small boy running past for all that he was worth to get home before Petunia came back in the car from picking Dudley up from school, the same school which the small boy attended. If they saw him come past at anytime after four then they could only smile and shake their heads sadly knowing that it would not end well for the small child for being late, at least not with Vernon's wild temper. If the child was late then those closest to Number Four could be sure to hear yelling coming from the house once Vernon arrived home followed by a Whoosh noise and sometime a cry or yelp of pain. No matter what the weather or time or year those at the end of the street could be sure to see the small boy running home in his overly large and faded clothes which they could see from a far were threadbare and no use to keep the cold at bay in winter or to keep him dry in the heavy rain, for he never had a coat with him only faded jeans, holed sneakers and a way too large for him t-shirt which would always fall off one shoulder.

Those on Privet Drive found themselves continuously offering up a prayer for the little boy, especially when he was late or if Vernon came home early, for they knew all too well his uncles temper. They also knew that Vernon's favourite source to direct that anger at was the little boy, in his eyes all wrong doing was the boys fault, the neighbours would wince sympathetically when they heard Vernon come home and yell "BOY", for the y knew no good would come if it. It was a wonder the child knew his own name was Harry and not "Boy" or "Freak" another favourite term of Vernon's for his nephew though if he ever called him "Freak" then it was usually doubly bad and all on the street could be certain they would not see the boy for a few days and when they did he would seem smaller and sometimes they would swear they saw him limping slightly.

Petunia was not much better, though they all knew she did not hit her nephew in fact except to give him an endless list of chore to do and to complain about the state he was in she would act as if he did not exist. Those either side of Number Four could hear he from the back door in that grating nasally voice of hers snapping at the small boy to work faster and say that "your just like your no good father, a drunk he was, a waste of space, you should be grateful I even took you in after he went and got himself and my sister killed in a car crash". They would shudder and wish with all their might that she hadn't taken him in and had just given him to an orphanage as bad as they are there was no way they were worse than the Dursleys.

As for Dudley Dursley he was in the streets opinion just like his father and a corruption upon the other boys such as Piers Polkiss not that Petunia and Vernon would ever hear a bad word against their "precious little Dudders". It did not take long for the rest to Privet Drive to realise who got the blame and trouble if they complained about the actions of Dudley and soon they all stopped complaining about Dudley for fear of getting the small black haired boy in trouble, it was a unanimous decision amongst them not to make his life any worse.

Though none of privet Drive complained or made any move to acknowledge the existence of little Harry anymore, their hearts went out to the small boy as well as twinged in guilt each time they heard raised voices at Number Four.

As for the Dursleys they felt gleeful and happy that the neighbours no longer saw the boy and believed them to be on their side, seeing him as a little troublemaker.

Oh how wrong the three Dursleys were!

This brings us to this summer where once again the sun was shining brightly and young Harry was outside gardening just as he had been doing for many summers now, not realising that this summer was going to turn out far different and far better than any other in his small seven years of life.

Because ever since the abuse, the neglect all became obvious to every member on the street they had all been working diligently to prove it all beyond a shadow f a doubt to save the small boy, to free him from it all. Many evenings after the sun had set members of the street would phone one another up and discuss what should be done, they had all been busy recording events, keeping times, and for those closest they had been capturing photos of the boy as evidence of the work he must do. Though to them it was obvious just looking at him that something was not right beginning with how small he was for his age as well as how silent and cautiously he moved. Yet nothing had been done before when Number Eight had made a phone call to Social Services, or when one of the childs Primary teachers had made enquires in fact not long afterwards that teacher had left the school for work elsewhere in South Wales. So the street and people of Privet Drive had remained quiet for two whole years now and gathered their evidence.

This time there would be no mistakes, the Dursleys would go to prison would pay for their crimes and the small little boy would no longer weed the garden in the blaring sun or run home from school in fear of being late or be yelled at, know he would play and have fun as other children do far away from Privet Drive. They all had their proof, they'd triple checked the laws and combined their money together to pay for a brilliant lawyer specialising in abuse cases, and just to make sure that their would be no weird cover ups they were each taking their evidence to all the different newspapers in the country. The press and public would hear of this first before the courts that way as the old war veteran in Number Nine has said "there will be no cover ups", his mind most of Privet Drive believed was a bit gone from the war but in this case he was absolutely right. All of the street were being cautious taking two years to gather their evidence for if they did not win the first time round then the little boy would surely end up dead at the hands of the Dursleys.

Now at the end of this summer they would act just in time they believed for the little boys birthday and what a present to give him but his freedom and a bon voyage form his relatives and Privet Drive, as they had gathered funds for him to go live in America far away from this in the land of freedom and liberty, the land of opportunities. As they had agreed with the press hearing of this story first and all that the boy had faced a new start in another country would be best for him, so money had been gathered for their country to send him over their to be with a nice foster family or better yet a real family through adoption but that they could not arrange form the little boy but would have to pray for his happiness and well being in his new life.

Soon they would act and as Number Three and Number Five watched from their homes the little boy weed the garden they could not help this time but to smile as soon he would be free of all this and their silence at the acts of his family would be well worth it.

Soon Harry Potter would be saying a farewell to Privet Drive and the Dursley as well as the kind people of the street who liberated him after years of silence, he would be saying farewell to them all under the blazing summer sun.

Perhaps for him the summer sun would not always mean endless weeding and having a forever burning red neck but laughter and fun and carefree childlike innocence and amusement.

so that is it please let me know what you thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, this is the end of this story and sorry to those who thought it would be far longer spanning into Harry's schooling and life but this story is more of a look at the people on the street of Privet Drive and their view of Harry's life.

Originally I was going to have the trial and everything with the wizards pooping up but I haven't done that as the arrest got very long with me. But I'm satisfied with the end product.

Sadly wizards aren't in this nor are they mentioned much but I felt that would pull away too much from my original aims for this story.

Anyway here it is read and enjoy!

* * *

The day had finally dawned; it was July 31st Harry Potters Eighth birthday had arrived.

Little did he know, as he awoke and stretched in his cupboard under the stairs that served as his room that this birthday was one that he would always remember. He would not realise it for another eight years but this birthday would be the most important, influential and liberating of all. Of course at the time his young battered mind had not been able to comprehend the significance nor importance of it all for it had started out as any other day of the summer.

Except it wasn't just any other day it was, as the war veteran in Number Nine had dubbed it, it was Liberation Day.

As was normal for summer in Privet Drive the sun was shining brightly down on the houses.

At Number Four the normal morning routine was going down, with the little messy haired birthday-boy stretching to reach the stove to cook breakfast for his relatives before standing in the corner waiting for them to finish so he could wash their plates, before scurrying to do whatever chores were assigned to him.

Inside of Number Four everything went as cruelly and unfairly as usual whereas outside as quietly as could be managed a great deal of activity could be found going on. The atmosphere reeked of long overdo justice, vengeance and a hint of excitement and pleasure.

For outside all members of the street seemed to be slowly converging together to stand in a half circle around Number Four. Every one of them had on huge smiles on their faces that looked like they were all related to a Cheshire cat, their grins and smiles were that wide.

But that was not all for all throughout the street there was many cars parked that did not belong along with huge vans with satellite dishes on the top. The news reporters and TV personnel had arrived to get a live feed on the story that had taken the country by storm. In amongst the members of Privet Drive stood members of others nearby streets who had come to see the monsters they'd lived so near to and had shared a park with. Spread throughout them all were members of the press, of TV stations and at the front the anchor men and women with their cameramen were all ready for when the family would be brought out.

In front of all that was the yellow police tape for a crime scene and on the once immaculate lawn stood at least twenty uniformed stern-faced outraged policemen. But which truly put a spring in the step of many members of Privet Drive was that with the police were their canine partners! Oh yes they all thought this was definitely the best way to go.

The only hold up in the events was the wait for the ambulance to arrive with its police escort so as to get the little boy to a hospital to be thoroughly checked over. Also from what the two detectives who were in charge of the case could tell get the little boy put on a drip to feed badly needed nutrients into his body and see about strengthening his bones up.

After various members of Privet Drive had informed every newspaper in the country, the police department in Scotland's Yard had been told about it. The police Chief had called in his two best detectives and gave them the case file and all the evidence that the street had on the family, which was rather a lot.

After some more digging the two detectives had found that Vernon Dursley was embezzling money out of his company and that Petunia Dursley had no legal papers placing her as Harry's guardian after his parent's death. Meaning that it was very suspicious and odd but with that and all the proof the members of Privet Drive had gathered on the abuse it was more than enough to put both Vernon and Petunia behind bars for life. Plans were already in place for their son, Dudley, to go to an orphanage and receive counselling so that he could learn the error of his parents' beliefs and hopefully become a functional honest member of society.

As they stood amongst the officers waiting to go into the house and grab the two adults - with many hoping the man would resist arrest so they could be heavy-handed without jeopardising the case – the two detectives thought of the plans they had made for the little boy. Due to the oddities of the case when it came to the lack of legal papers, wills of his parents, and the teacher and old member of the street who went to Social Services about the boy but then disappeared coupled with the complete lack of records on the little boy at social services they had bumped the security and priority of the case.

They had a plan that only the two of them, their boss and the judge knew of. The four of them would not fail the little boy and had taken lengthy measures to see to it he will be happy in the near future.

However seeing the happy smiles or rather grins and smirks on the faces of the members of Privet Drive who had worked so hard to report this abuse and to save the boy they almost had second thoughts about their plan. But looking around again and they saw all the other members of the public who had come to watch along with the circus of cameras, photograph and greedy reporters out for a story they soon put away their guilt knowing full well it was the best for the boy.

There at last at the top of the street where the members of said houses usually watched for the boy to come running past on his way home from school the white and red of the ambulance could be seen with the blue and black of the motorcycle policemen and black and whit squad cars.

The noise suddenly seemed to intensify and a buzzing rippling sensation of excitement went through the crowd as the appearance of an ambulance could mean only one thing: it was time.

As suddenly as the noise had come it was gone.

It was replaced by a tense sort of silence as they all looked on as each uniformed officer there moved in a rehearsed and planned way to the point of entry in the house, which in included the large living room windows. Staying in the shadows to the edges of the entry points they waited for the signal to enter.

First though they needed confirmation on where the little boy was for he could not be harmed as this was carried out. There was no doubt in the minds of every officer and member of the street that given the chance Vernon would kill the boy before being arrested or use him as some sort of human shield.

A crackle of static on the radio, a hitching of the collective breaths of all those present, the eager gleam in the eyes of the news reporters and journalists, the raising of cameras as...

CRASH!!!

BOOM!!! BANG!!!

THUD!!!

The police were in. The rescue and arrest was underway.

The crowd watched on in fascinating silence as they heard the sounds of a struggle of wailing and screaming inside the house.

Droplets of sweat ran down the faces of those who lived on Privet Drive along with shivers of fear as they stood on waiting to see the little boy.

Then out came most of the police with a large round looking lard of a boy who was wailing loudly, followed by a stick-thin horse-faced woman who was sobbing hysterically muttering about how it was "all that worthless freaks fault". She was restrained by two officers and in handcuffs. Lastly came a large overly obese man whose face was purple as he yelled obscenities to the four officers restraining him.

They were all hustled into three separate cop cars which sped off immediately to their individual destinations. It had been decided that the Dursleys would not be allowed to see or be in contact with one another until the trial in less than two weeks.

Public outrage and all the work of Privet Drive's other residents meant the trial could be sped up and over with in less than a month as the evidence made it more than crystal clear.

As the cars disappeared round the corner the door of the house creaked open again and out came the two detectives one holding an assortment of odds ends which the crowd realised must be the boy's possessions. Half-hidden in the burly arms of the shorter detective was a small fragile black-haired boy and though terrified he appeared to be unharmed from the arrest. Striding quickly the detectives made it to the relative safety and shelter of the ambulance with the escort closing ranks as paramedics gave the boy a once-over to see if he had any major recent wounds or bone breaks.

The journalists and news reporters began to move in, flashing lights and whirring recorders, jumbled fast-spoken questions all blurring and buzzing in the little boys mind.

Only to be replaced roughly by the worried fear-lined faces of the neighbours with the old war veteran facing all the reporters waving his cane at any who came to near. The remaining police who entered the house came out to help keep the peace and to help the little boy have his privacy.

Number Three and Number Four were now anxiously asking the little boy if he was okay and that it was all over now, he was getting a new family and the Dursleys were going away for a long long time. The people from the top of the street were passing him chocolates and parcels containing clothes, toys and books purchased by everyone. Then Number Nine was giving him letters telling him their sorry for ignoring him all these years and that the letters will explain their reasons.

As sudden as they were there they were all backing away and the doors to the ambulance are closing but before they do a small timid voice whispered "Thank You". These two words broke the hearts of those who were closest to hear it as they could tell it was laced with sincerity and the green eyes sparkled with happiness.

The ambulance and police escort pulled away with flashing lights and sirens blaring.

Soon all the cars were gone and the members of the street were left standing, watching the dust settle. Several were still reeling from his words and others were still processing all that had happened and the fact that it had actually worked. For though through publicly announcing the abuse they were certain they would be able to get the desired results, many of them had still been doubtful that they would succeed.

Slowly they all broke up and headed back to their homes to go about their day as the barbecue celebration was not until the evening.

Half-limping stiffly to his house the war veteran stopped as he heard the screeching and yelling of old Mrs Figg of Magnolia Crescent, she was busy ranting at the people from the top of the street and the next door neighbours of Number Four. He paused in his walk to listen to what she had to say but he did not turn for he did not wish to speak to anyone.

"...No idea what you've done... ruined everything you have... Dumbledore won't be pleased... what am I to do now..."

On she went mostly though she was muttering loudly to herself as walked home. Everyone in the area generally thought her insane and could not fathom how she could afford to live in Magnolia Crescent.

Moving swifter now the war veteran entered his home frowning deeply over the name. 'Dumbledore... where had he heard that name before?' He headed down the hallway to his bedroom he stopped as if struck by lightning. "Regulus Black!" he exclaimed aloud, for he remembered where he had heard the name Dumbledore from, 'Regulus spoke of him and poorly too, hmm well it looks as if there may be more to Harry Potter than he once thought.' He sighed heavily as he moved forward once again but this time an aura of sadness gripped him as it always did when he thought of the haunted young man he had the privilege of meeting years ago. But now that meeting weighed heavier on his heart as he placed Harry Potter into the equation of what little he knew of the Wizarding World from Regulus.

Yes, the old war veteran, who many thought was slightly insane and paranoid knew of wizards, after all his own granddaughter was one of them.

As he chuckled over what he knew of magic and all its oddities he was packing his bags for it was time to leave Britiain. The onle reason he had stayed this long was because of the little boy, but now that he was safe and sound in police custody and the whole country knew of what he had endured at his relatives hands, it was time to leave and join his family in America. Within half an hour all of his possessions were packed and he was ready to leave the place he'd called home for ten years of his life, oddly enough he wasn't going to miss anything and felt no sadness at leaving, for all that had kept him here was the little boy.

Later on as he walked into Heathrow and up to the check-in desk he caught a glimpse of the news report and for the third time that day stopped dead at the womans' words.

"Tragically Harry Potter died shortly upon arrival to St Gabriel's Hospital from a punctured lung. It is reported that it is a miracle that he managed to live this long with the abuse, beatings, negligence of his family. The Trial of said relative has been moved up in response to the boys death and will be held in just three days time. The Minister and House of Lords is scheduled to hold a conference and review of Social Services as this should never have happened..."

Again the aura of sadness surrounded the war veteran as he trudged to the desk and got his plane ticket as he checked in his luggage barely hearing her sympathetic words to what had just been on the news.

Two years of his life wasted all the work for nothing as they were too late. He should have had them act sooner or gone with his first instincts and just kidnapped the boy as it's not like they would have reported him missing. Huh but he didn't and now the little boy was dead.

He trudged forward to Gate Seven and boarded the plane, heart pressing heavily in his chest.

Back in Privet Drive the barbecue was all set up and everyone was gathered but none were eating as most were weeping over what they had heard on the news. They were all grief-ridden. Too late! They'd left it too long they should have moved sooner, they shouldn't have spent so long gathering their evidence. The whole street was busy playing the blame game, whilst sometimes staring at Number Four with hatred and disgust in their faces.

In Scotland Yard little activity was going on as working hours were long since over. This did not matter to do certain detectives who were busy going over the Dursley case for the moved up trial. Whilst doing so they could hardly keep the feral grins off their faces, this trial was going to be a landslide victory and vicious. Now that the little boy was taken care of they could go full force into investigating the family and take them down fully. The only downfall that the shorter of the two found was that the country no longer had the death penalty.

Miles away in a hidden part of London men and women in robes gathered to talk of events in what they called 'the muggle news' and mourn the loss of Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived and saviour of the Wizarding World. All over Britain owls flew carrying letters, sending news of what had befallen their hero in the years he'd spent in muggle world after saving them from Voldemort.

It appeared everyone in Britain felt deeply of the death of young Harry Potter except three people each in high security cells.

On the other side of the world in New York a plane set down and escorted by a pretty young stewardess a small boy with green eyes, messy black hair by the name of James Grey walked off of a plane from Britain.

Standing a little ways off he saw an old man whose eyes spoke of having faced wars as he stood heavily on his cane a feral grin on his face. This only grew in size when the little boy broke free of the stewardess' grasp yelling "Grampa" at the top of his lungs. The old man grinned widely as he grabbed the boy up and hugged him close mentally hoping nobody saw the wince the little boy gave at the unused contact.

Turning he walked towards at the exit where a dark haired woman stood with a violet eyed little girl who was bouncing on her toes in excitement at having a little brother.

Together the four of them walked towards a luggage filled blue sedan with a trailed full of furniture behind it as they got in to drive off to their new lives in San Francisco.

July 31st 1988 Harry Potter was set free by the members of Privet Drive, dying shortly after gaining said freedom and on the same day the Grey family was born.

* * *

Okay well that's it everybody and I am officially closing this story down as this story was a look at what it the people of Privet Drive noticed the abuse and since Harry is free of their now the story is done.

Now I'm not completely pleased with how this ended but I think it works and overall I'm satisfied with it.

I may in the future do a sequel as I'm sure you've already realised Harry isn't dead dead but in a sort of witness protection and has a new identity as I am equally certain that you have figured that the man he called grampa was the old war veteran of number six.

So anyway there may be a story length sequel which skip ahead a little under ten years or something and the end of the story leaves it open for me to do so but it is also in a way closed as Harry now has a new loving family and new life awaiting him in America away from it all.

As for the mentions of Regulus Black I really love him and wish in canon that he has more of an input and role and because I wanted the old war veteran to have a link to the wizards and magic to help and be closer to Harry and because I feel Harry going off to live with a magical family or family who know of magic is ideal.

If a sequel is done this will be elaborated on but for this story I hope it doesn't make no sense or serve no purpose at all.

I hope you all liked this and please read and review it but no flames if you can help it! Hate what I've done then kindly keep it to yourself. Like it but feel I my grammar is bad then by all means tell me.

Okay right good-bye and thanks for reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Hiya!

Just thought would let you know that a continuation of this saga has been up and posted under title of Privet Drive Wizards Downfall.

Also would love for ideas/suggestions as for how long Harry should stay/live in America for? Until he's 11? Or later? Or even after Hogwarts before he returns?

Thanks again to those who have reviewed!


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